Male undergarments with different pouch sizes for a given waist size

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to men&#39;s underwear that provides options with respect to waist size and pouch size. The pouch size may vary in order to accommodate males of varying genital sizes. For a given waist size there may be at least two pouch sizes, wherein each pouch size is different from the other. The present invention provides multiple options for pouch size within each waist size. Therefore, rather than being limited to selecting from waist size only, providers and/or user may also select from varying pouch sizes. This effectively increases the number of undergarment options.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to undergarments constructed to provide differentpouch sizes, to accommodate men of varying external genital sizes, for agiven waist size.

BACKGROUND

Currently, men's underwear come in different waist sizes. Some men'sunderwear include a pouch section made for the male crotch region. Thepouch section may be made in general proportion to the waist size. Thesedimensions are used to give the “average man” a standard fit. However,men's crotch sizes, including the external genital size, are not all thesame and are not known to be dependent on waist size. That is to say,men of the same waist size may vary greatly with respect to genitalsizes. Therefore, some men may not find the standard fit comfortable towear. There is no current solution that gives men of varying genitalsizes a fit that does not cause excessive binding or that does not drapeoff of them.

SUMMARY

The current invention resolves these and other problems of existingmen's underwear by providing, among other things, undergarments with twoor more different pouch sizes for a given waist size. One embodiment ofthe invention relates to men's underwear constructed with at least awaist size and a pouch size, wherein the two sizes may be sizedindependently of each other. The undergarment may be constructed of apouch section, a base section, and a waist line section. The pouchsection is located at the crotch region while the waist line section ismeant to be worn around or near the user's waist line. The base sectionmay form the rear and side portions of the undergarment. The pouchsection may include at least two panels (which may or may not besubstantially identical) joined along their respective outwardlyextending inner borders to form a curved shape seam in the middle of theundergarment and/or user's crotch region. The seam length may bemeasured from the waist line section to the bottom of the undergarment.The seam may produce a concave pouch. The pouch section may bepositioned to support the male external genitals. The pouch size may bebased on the seam length and panel dimensions. Other pouch sizedetermination methods and construction techniques may be used.

In order to accommodate males having the same waist size but varyinggenital sizes, the pouch size may vary from one undergarment to anotherfor the given waist size. According to another embodiment of theinvention, a line of undergarments may include two or more sets ofundergarments. Two or more undergarments may make up a set. Eachundergarment within a set may have the same waist size but differentpouch sizes. Thus, for a given waist size there may be at least two (ormore) different pouch sizes.

The invention provides consumers with options with respect to pouch sizeand waist size. Therefore, rather than being limited to waist sizeoptions only, an underwear provider and/or user may also select fromdifferent pouch sizes for each respective waist size. This effectivelyincreases the number of options for providing undergarments and/or forselecting from undergarments. For example, providers (e.g., underwearmanufacturers and/or other undergarment providers) may provide severalundergarments according to the invention and/or users may select fromthe provided undergarments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pair of briefs, according to an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a rear view of a pair of briefs, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a pair of briefs, according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates varying pouch sizes, according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b each illustrate a line of undergarments, according toan embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to men's undergarments, and particularly toproviding undergarments that have different pouch sizes for a givenwaist size. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a front view of anundergarment 1, according to an embodiment of the invention. While thefigure illustrates briefs, the invention is not necessarily limited to asingle type of undergarment and may include, but is not limited to, lowrise briefs, mid-rise briefs, pouch briefs, bikini briefs, thongs,swimming briefs, swimming trunks, boxer briefs, low rise trunks, boxers,jock, long johns and/or other types of men's undergarments, which may becollectively referred to as undergarments. The undergarment 1 mayinclude a waist line section 2; a base section 4; a pouch section 6,which may include two panels 10 (which may or may not be substantiallyidentical); a seam length 8; and leg openings 12. The base section mayinclude an upper border 5. Each panel 10 may include an inside border13, a top border 14, outside border 16, leg border 18, bottom border 20and a shared seam length 8. Other configurations may be used with theconcepts of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a back view of the undergarment 1 shownin FIG. 1. This view shows the waist line section 2, base section 4,base section's upper border 5, base section's bottom border 22 and legopenings 12. FIG. 3 illustrates undergarment's side view includingsimilar elements identified using like numbering. Various otherconstruction techniques and configurations can be used.

As shown, there may be at least three sections to the undergarment 1, awaist line section 2, a base section 4 and a pouch section 6. More orfewer than three sections may be included. The sections may be joined atvarious locations by stitching and/or other joining mechanisms. Thewaist line section 2 forms the waist portion of the undergarment 1 andmay be worn, based on undergarment type, around the user's waist, belowthe user's waist and/or above the user's waist. The waist line section 2may be formed from appropriate material, such as fabric and/or otherwearable material including, but not limited to, an elastic band. Thewaist line section 2 may be constructed in predetermined waist sizes.Waist sizes may range from small, medium, large, and/or extra large.Alternatively, or in addition, waist sizes may be sized according tolength in inches, centimeters, and/or other unit of measure. The waistline section 2 may be joined to the base section 4 and the pouch section6.

The base section 4 of the undergarment as shown in FIGS. 1-3 forms therear portion (see FIG. 2) and two side portions including a left sideand right side (see FIG. 1) of the undergarment 1. The base section 4may be worn to cover the user's posterior region and side pelvicregions. The base section 4 may be formed from any appropriate material,including fabric and/or other wearable material. It may be seamless (asshown) or seamed (not shown). The base section may form part of the legopenings 12. As shown, the base section's upper border 5 may be joinedwith the waist line section 2 and the base section's bottom border 22may be joined with the panels' bottom borders 20. The base section 4 mayhave a base size and/or dimension that correspond with the waist sizesuch that two undergarments with the same waist size may also havesubstantially identical base size.

The pouch section 6 forms at least a part of the front of theundergarment 1. The pouch section 6 may be worn to cover the user'scrotch region including the male genitals. This pouch section 6 may beformed of any appropriate material, including fabric and/or otherwearable material. The pouch section 6 may constructed in a variety ofways. According to one example, the pouch may include two panels 10,which may or may not be substantially identical. In one example, the twopanels 10 may have substantially the same size, shape, and dimension butmay be attached to undergarment 1 in opposite configurations. Otherconstruction techniques and configurations for the pouch maybe used.

As described above, each panel 10 may include an inside border 13, a topborder 14, outside border 16, leg border 18, bottom border 20 and ashared seam length 8. The top border 14 of both panels may be joinedwith the waist line section 2. The outside borders 16 may be joined tothe side portions of the base section 4 at opposite sides. The legborder 18 forms an unattached edge used to form part of the leg opening12 for the user's right and left leg, separately. The leg border 18 maybe hemmed to form a smooth border which prevents irritation and/orchaffing when worn around the user's thigh. The bottom 20 of both panels10 may be joined with the bottom 22 of the base section 4 as shown inFIG. 2. The two panels 10 may be joined to one another on theirrespective inside borders 13 to form a curved seam length 8. The seamlength 8 can extend in an outward direction in order to give theundergarment volume to form a pouch like portion that receives themale's external genitals. The seam length 8 may be measured along thecurved seam from the panels' top border 14 to the bottom of the panels20. A pouch size may be determined from the seam length 8 and thepanels' 10 dimensions. Other size determination techniques may be used.

The panels 10 may vary in proportion and/or size from one set ofundergarments to another. FIG. 4 illustrates examples of side views forthree undergarments (3, 5, 7). The undergarments (3, 5, 7) may each bedesigned to have substantially the same waist size and substantially thesame base size, but each may have a different pouch size (6 a, 6 b, 6c). The pouch size may by designed to differ in size to accommodatedifferent size male genitalia for a given waist size. According to oneembodiment, the pouch size may correspond with the panels' 10proportions. Designing the panels' dimensions to be different for agiven waist size effectively results in varying the pouch size. Forexample, undergarments 3, 5, and 7 may be constructed to havesubstantially the same waist size and/or base size, but may differ bypouch size. For a given waist size, the pouch size may differ in volume(or other dimension) from one set of one or more undergarments toanother set of one or more undergarments (both sets having the samewaist size). In FIG. 4, pouch 6 b may be larger than pouch 6 a, pouch 6c may be larger than pouch 6 b, and pouch 6 c may be larger than pouch 6a. By way of example only, pouch 6 b may be 50% larger than pouch 6 a,pouch 6 c may be 50% larger than pouch 6 b, and pouch 6 c may be 125%larger than pouch 6 a. This is by way of example only, and it should bewell understood by one of ordinary skill that the percentages or otherdifferences in pouch size may be any suitable number or range ofnumbers.

The ability to differ the pouch sizes for a given waist size, asexemplified in FIG. 4, can result in providing a wider range of optionsin undergarments. The options can accommodate men of varying genitalsize and shape regardless of waist size. This may also provide users amore customized fit that prevents excessive bunching or binding of theundergarments.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a line of undergarments. Aline of undergarments may include a number of undergarments, where atleast some of the number of undergarments have substantially the samewaist size and/or base size, but different pouch sizes. Undergarmentswith the same waist size and/or base size may be referred to as a set. Aline may include two or more different sets, wherein each set representsa different waist size.

FIG. 5 a illustrates at least part of an undergarment line 1000including a set of 4 undergarments (30, 40, 50, 60) having substantiallythe same first waist size 2 a (and first base size 4 b) as each other.FIG. 5 b illustrates at least another part of the undergarment line 1000including a set of undergarments (70, 80, 90, 100) having substantiallythe same second waist size 2 b (and/or second base size 4 b) as eachother. The first waist size 2 a may be different (e.g., longer orshorter) from second waist size 2 b. Although only two sets ofundergarments are shown for the undergarment line 1000, there can bemore than two sets such that the number of sets represents a number ofdifferent waist line sizes. In addition, although four undergarments areshown, each set may include two or more undergarments such that thenumber of undergarments (two or more) in the set represents differentpouch sizes. The invention is not limited to a single line ofundergarments. Several lines may exist based on different factors suchas undergarment type (e.g., brief, boxer, trunk, etc.) and/or otherdesign factors.

FIG. 5 a illustrates an example of a front view of four undergarments(30, 40, 50, 60), according to an embodiment of the invention.Undergarments 30, 40, 50, and 60 may each include a pouch section (32,42, 52, and 62) constructed of two substantially identical panels. Thepouches (32, 42, 52, and 62) may be constructed to provide varying pouchsizes (and corresponding volumes) for the user of the undergarments.While the waist and base size (2 a, 4 a) remain constant, the pouch sizemay get progressively larger (or smaller) from one undergarment to thenext within the set of undergarments shown in FIG. 5 a. FIG. 4 providesa description of how different pouch sizes may differ. Although notdrawn to scale, each undergarment within a set may have a differentpouch size. For example each pair of panels 10 used to construct thepouches (32, 42, 52, 62) vary in proportion from one another. Other sizedetermination techniques may be used.

In comparison to FIG. 5 a, FIG. 5 b illustrates a second set ofundergarments for line 1000 having a different waist and base size (2 b,4 b) from the first set of undergarment in line 1000. The second set ofundergarment in line 1000 may include a plurality of undergarments (70,80, 90, 100), wherein each undergarment includes a pouch (72, 82, 92,102) made of two panels (which may or may not be substantially equal).The waist size and/or base size (2 b, 4 b) remain constant for eachundergarment while the pouch size may get progressively larger (orsmaller) from one undergarment to the next within the set ofundergarments shown in FIG. 5 b.

Pouches 32, 42, 52, and 62 may be the same or different in size incomparison to pouches 72, 82, 92, and 102, respectively. In one example,undergarments 30 and 70 may have substantially identical pouches 32 and72, respectively. The pouches, however, need not be the same and maydiffer from one another. In an alternative example, the pouch 32 and 72may differ from one another and may be based on their correspondingwaist size (2 a, 2 b) and/or base size (4 a, 4 b).

An additional embodiment may include providing a garment tag attached toeach undergarment. As described above, an undergarment may have a pouchsize that may be independently selected and/or sized from a waist size.The pouch size and the waist size may be identified on the tag attachedto the undergarment. By way of example, two undergarments may beconstructed to have the same waist size but different pouch sizes.According to this example, the first undergarment may have a tag thatidentifies the waist size and first pouch size and the secondundergarment may have a tag that identifies the waist size and thesecond pouch size, wherein the identified waist size is the same on bothundergarments but the identified pouch sizes are different. As a furtherexample, different pouch sizes may be identified using a series ofletters (e.g., A, B, C, or X, Y, Z), numbers (1, 2, 3), words (small,medium, large) and/or other identifiable characters. Waist sizes mayalso be identified using a series of letters (e.g., S, M, L), words(e.g., small, medium, large), phrases, numbers, and/or otheridentifiable characters. Alternatively, the sizes may be referred to asstandard, large and extra large to avoid any stigma to men of smallergenital sizes. The undergarment tag may include at least one identifiedpouch size and one identified waist size. Other information may beidentified on the tag as well.

The line of undergarments may be constructed, manufactured, andassembled according to the details above or otherwise. The undergarmentand its various sections may be constructed of the same or differentmaterials including, cotton, nylon, silk, polyester, rubber, and/orsynthetic blends, among other fibers.

While the above detailed description of the invention contains manyspecificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scopeof the invention, but rather as exemplifications of several preferredembodiments thereof. Many other variations are possible. Therefore, theforegoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of theinvention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

1. A line of undergarments including at least a first set ofundergarments, the first set of undergarments comprising: a firstundergarment having: a first waist section having a first waist size; afirst base section coupled to said first waist section and including afirst rear portion, and first side portions, said first base sectionforming at least a portion of each of two first leg openings; a firstpouch section positioned between said two first leg openings and coupledto said first base section, said first pouch section having a firstpouch size independent of the first waist size; and a secondundergarment having: a second waist section having a second waist sizebeing substantially identical to said first waist size; a second basesection coupled to said second waist section and including a second rearportion, and second side portions, said second base section forming atleast a portion of each of two second leg openings, said second basesection being substantially identical to said first base section; and asecond pouch section positioned between said two second leg openings andcoupled to said second base section, said second pouch section having asecond pouch size independent of the first and second waist size andwhich is larger than said first pouch size.
 2. The line of undergarmentsof claim 1, further comprising a second set of undergarments, the secondset of undergarments comprising: a third undergarment having: a thirdwaist section having a third waist size being larger than said firstwaist size; a third base section coupled to said third waist section andincluding a third rear portion, and third side portions, said third basesection forming at least a portion of each of two third leg openings,said third base section being larger than said first base section; and athird pouch section positioned between said two third leg openings andcoupled to said third base section, said third pouch section having athird pouch size independent of the third waist size; and a fourthundergarment having: a fourth waist section having a fourth waist sizebeing substantially identical to said third waist size; a fourth basesection coupled to said fourth waist section and including a fourth rearportion, and fourth side portions, said fourth base section forming atleast a portion of each of two fourth leg openings, said fourth basesection being substantially identical to said third base section; and afourth pouch section positioned between said two fourth leg openings andcoupled to said fourth base section, said fourth pouch section having afourth pouch size independent of the third and fourth waist size and,which is larger than said third pouch size.
 3. The line of undergarmentsof claim 2, wherein: the first pouch size is substantially equal to thethird pouch size; and the second pouch size is substantially equal tothe fourth pouch size.
 4. The line of undergarments of claim 2, wherein:the first pouch size is different from the third pouch size; and thesecond pouch size is different from the fourth pouch size.
 5. A line ofundergarments, comprising: a first set of undergarments including atleast a first undergarment and a second undergarment, each having: awaist section having a first waist size; a base section coupled to saidwaist section and including a rear portion, and side portions, said basesection forming at least a portion of each of two leg openings; and apouch section positioned between said two leg openings and coupled tosaid base section and said waist section, said pouch section having apouch size independent of the first waist size, wherein the firstundergarment has a first pouch size and the second undergarment has asecond pouch size, and wherein the first pouch size is different fromthe second pouch size; and a second set of undergarments including atleast a third undergarment and a fourth undergarment, each having: asecond waist section having a second waist size that is different thanthe first waist size; a second base section coupled to said second waistsection and including a second rear portion, and second side portions,said second base section forming at least a portion of each of twosecond leg openings; and a second pouch section positioned between saidtwo second leg openings and coupled to said second base section and saidsecond waist section, said second pouch section having a pouch sizeindependent of the first waist size, wherein the third undergarment hasa third pouch size and the fourth undergarment has a fourth pouch size,and wherein the third pouch size is different from the fourth pouchsize.